While many hotel companies make renovations and adjustments in order to receive green status, IHG wants to provide certification while the hotel is still not open and so it can start operating already as a “green hotel”. The hotel company even has a special program called Green Engage that is now recognized by the US Green Building Council and Green Key Global. This way the hotelier can streamline the process of certification of its properties. Therefore, IHG will become the first hotel company with precertification of newly built hotels. All the new properties will meet the standards of LEED 2009 for New Construction. Earlier IHG provided LEED certification of already working hotels.
The newly built hotels under the IHG Green Engage program meet several standards of GKG and LEED. The Green Key Global certification checks how “green” hotels are in operation. This eco-raring program inspects various aspect of hotels’ work. In its turn, LEED is more targeted at certified building. The certification covers the whole building lifecycle. IHG currently has 124 hotels certified by the Green Key Global, and five hotels certified by LEED.
According to Paul Snyder, vice president of corporate responsibility and sustainability in IHG, they hope that bookings of their green hotels will be higher compared to hotels without this certification. The company’s surveys show that 70% of frequent travellers prefer environment-friendly hotels, so IHG wants to be the leading company in “green” achievements.